The <i>ACE</i> rs1799752 Variant Is Associated with COVID-19 Severity but Is Independent of Serum ACE Activity in Hospitalized and Recovered Patients

Abstract

This paper assesses the association of the insertion/deletion ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) variant (rs1799752 I/D) and the serum ACE activity with the severity of COVID-19 as well as its impact on post-COVID-19, and we compare these associations with those for patients with non-COVID-19 respiratory disorders. We studied 1252 patients with COVID-19, 104 subjects recovered from COVID-19, and 74 patients hospitalized with a respiratory disease different from COVID-19. The rs1799752 ACE variant was assessed using TaqMan® Assays. The serum ACE activity was determined using a colorimetric assay. The DD genotype was related to risk for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) requirement as an indicator of COVID-19 severity when compared to the frequencies of II + ID genotypes (p = 0.025, OR = 1.428, 95% CI = 1.046–1.949). In addition, this genotype was significantly higher in COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 groups than in the non-COVID-19 subjects. The serum ACE activity levels were lower in the COVID-19 group (22.30 U/L (13.84–32.23 U/L)), which was followed by the non-COVID-19 (27.94 U/L (20.32–53.36 U/L)) and post-COVID-19 subjects (50.00 U/L (42.16–62.25 U/L)). The DD genotype of the rs1799752 ACE variant was associated with the IMV requirement in patients with COVID-19, and low serum ACE activity levels could be related to patients with severe disease.

Keywords

• ACE
• COVID-19
• genetics
• angiotensin-converting enzyme
• single nucleotide variant
• renin–angiotensin system